Appointment of Board Executives

The International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation, New York, Announces the Appointment of New Board Executives. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) March 02, 2022 - The International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation (ICERM), a New York based 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is pleased to announce the appointment of two executives to lead its Board of Directors. Yacouba Isaac Zida, Former Prime Minister and President of Burkina Faso has been elected to serve as the Chair of the Board of Directors. Anthony ('Tony') Moore, Founder, Chairman & CEO at Evrensel Capital Partners PLC, is the newly elected Vice Chair.

Yacouba Isaac Zida is a former military officer trained in Burkina Faso, Morocco, Canada, USA, Germany, and highly qualified in the field of intelligence. His rich and long experience as a senior officer and his commitment to the general interest of the communities led to his designation and appointment as Prime Minister of the transitional government of Burkina Faso after the uprising of the people that ended 27 years of dictatorship in October 2014. Yacouba Isaac Zida led the fairest and most transparent election in the history of the country. After which he resigned on December 28, 2015. His mandate was fulfilled in due time and his accomplishments were highly appreciated by the United Nations, European Union, African Union, the Francophonie, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the International Monetary Fund. Mr. Zida is currently pursuing a PhD in Conflict Studies at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. His research focuses on terrorism in the Sahel region.

Anthony ('Tony') Moore has 40+ years experience in the global financial services industry having lived and worked in 6 countries, 9 cities and transacted business in another 20+ countries in his long and distinguished career. Most notably, Tony opened and managed the Goldman Sachs (Asia) Ltd office based in Hong Kong; was the first Head of Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs Japan in Tokyo and Executive Director at Goldman Sachs Ltd in London where he had responsibility for UK privatizations and relationships with a large number of Footsie 100 companies. Following his career at Goldman Sachs he held, among other positions, Member of the Board of Banker's Trust Int'l and Chairman of Corporate Finance at BZW, Barclays Bank's investment banking subsidiary. Tony has also held senior positions in industry including President & CEO of New Energy Ventures Technologies in Los Angeles, one of the early entrants into the deregulating US power industry. Tony has served, and still very much serves, as Chairman and/or Board Director of large number of public and private companies in the USA, Europe and Asia/Pacific. His experience covers capital markets financing, equity fund raising, cross-border mergers & acquisitions, project finance, real estate, precious metals, asset management (including alternative investments), wealth advisory, etc. He has particular experience in guiding start up and emerging companies right the way through to an exit, either trade sale or IPO. Currently based in Istanbul, Tony is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Evrensel Capital Partners, a global merchant bank, fund management and trading company. He is particularly interested in providing strategic and financial advice to companies that have a significant humanitarian aspect in their offering and in general seeks, in this legacy period of his life, opportunities to contribute to creating a better world for future generations. Tony has an extensive, global senior executive level network in government, public entities, financial institutions and corporations around the world which he is more than happy to leverage to the benefit of outstanding organizations such as the International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation.

The appointment of these two leaders was confirmed on February 24, 2022 during the leadership meeting of the organization. According to Dr. Basil Ugorji, President and CEO of the International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation, the mandate given to Mr. Zida and Mr. Moore is centered on strategic leadership and fiduciary responsibility for the sustainability and scalability of the conflict resolution and peacebuilding work of the organization.

"Building an infrastructure of peace in the 21st century requires the commitment of successful leaders from a variety of professions and regions. We are thrilled to welcome them into our organization and have high hopes for the progress we will make together in promoting a culture of peace around the world," Dr. Ugorji added.

The International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation (ICERM) was founded in 2012 in the State of New York. In 2014, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) approved the organization as a 501 (c) (3) public charity which makes donations to ICERM 100% tax deductible in the United States. At the same time, ICERM was accorded a special consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council. This provides the organization the privilege of delegating representatives to participate in high level meetings at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Geneva, and Vienna.

Based in White Plains, New York, ICERM is dedicated to identifying racial, ethnic, and religious conflicts, working on prevention, strategizing solutions, and bringing together resources to support peace in nations around the world. The organization does this through research, education and training, expert consultation, dialogue and mediation, and rapid response projects. The overall objective of ICERM is to build capacity for resolving ethnic, racial, and religious conflicts in various countries with the help of an international network of ethno-religious mediators.

Since 2014 ICERM has been hosting International Conference on Ethnic and Religious Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding. This annual conference is attended by hundreds of participants from countries around the world, including conflict resolution experts, researchers, scholars, students, field practitioners, policymakers, delegates representing the councils of traditional rulers / indigenous leaders, and religious leaders. The outcomes of the conferences are published in the organization’s Journal of Living Together, disseminated to universities, and used for training people in ethno-religious conflict mediation.

Recently, ICERM launched the Living Together Movement to promote civic engagement and collective action. Focused on nonviolence, justice, diversity, and equity, Living Together Movement addresses cultural, racial, ethnic, and religious divisions as well as promotes conflict resolution, peacemaking, and peacebuilding, which are the values and goals of the ICERM. This project is being implemented with the help of ICERM’s Community Peacebuilders.

Through the Living Together Movement, ICERM’s goal is to repair our society’s divisions, one conversation at a time. By offering a space and opportunity to have meaningful, honest, and safe discussions that bridge gaps of race, gender, ethnicity, or religion, the project allows for a moment of transformation in a world of binary thinking and hateful rhetoric. Taken on a large scale, the possibilities for repairing our society’s ills in this way are immense. In order to make this happen, ICERM is launching a web and mobile app that will allow Living Together Movement chapters and meetings to be created, organized, planned, and regularly hosted in communities and cities around the world.

In the past, ICERM only had university academics on its Board. That was important to establish the research and training projects of the organization. Moving forward, it is the goal of the organization to open the Board to business and corporate leaders as well as policymakers. ICERM's growth depends on these new leaders.

To learn more about the International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation (ICERM), visit https://www.icermediation.org/

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